


Forums

by nychus



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Falling In Love, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21800686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nychus/pseuds/nychus
Summary: Noctis and Ignis are in an awkward, non-speaking point and Noctis desperately needs advice. He turns to the internet to ask how he can start a conversation with Ignis after they had a steamy night together.
Relationships: Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia
Comments: 16
Kudos: 85





	Forums

“I slept with Ignis.”

Those were the words he greeted Prompto with as soon as his friend opened the front door. Prompto didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with that.

“Haven’t you two been sharing beds since you were kids?” Prompto asked.

It was at that point that Noctis grabbed his friend by the shoulders and stared him dead in the eyes. “I slept with him. SLEPT. You know, that thing you do when you aren’t actually sleeping? That thing with kissing and nakedness and lube?!”

Now Prompto had the decency to look shocked. At least Noctis had gotten his point across.

“Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.” Prompto kept repeating as he sunk down onto a kitchen chair. “Dude.”

“Yeah,” was all Noctis could reply as he too sat down and then placed head on the table.

“So, like, what happened?”

Noctis hadn’t really thought about the events that had taken place some twenty hours earlier. All he had thought about was the end result, the confusion of not understanding his feelings towards it, and the fact that he had probably screwed up so badly with Ignis that his adviser was going to quit.

“Well, you know how Iggy’s boyfriend broke up with him? And he’s been kinda down?” Prompto nodded. “Last night I suggested we hang out at his place since he can never seem to turn off chamberlain-mode at mine. I picked up food, headed over, and we just hung out, like you and I do, minus the video games.

“We had some wine with dinner, and…” Noctis paused and thought about that moment. Had he been drunk? No, he had had just enough to be relaxed. He’d looked over at Ignis, who was laughing at something. His glasses were off and his hair was mussed. He wasn’t even wearing his usual office attire. He looked like the 22-year-old he was and not the 42-year-old he pretended to be. He was beautiful and how could any one have the nerve to dump such a perfect person? Something compelled him to lean over and kiss Ignis and so he did.

Trying to explain the situation to Prompto was a nightmare, but the blonde at least got the main point as he repeated, “So you kissed him first?”

“Yeah, and he kind of just froze. Of course he did, ‘cause who expects their oldest friend to suddenly kiss them? He didn’t kiss back and so I pushed away, thinking I’d messed up—I mean, I had—but he then grabbed my face and brought it back to his.”

“Dude.”

“Anyway, we stayed on the couch for a while.” Hands started exploring, shirts came off, and both were very obviously turned on, but Noctis didn’t need to tell Prompto all of that. “Then we moved to the bedroom, and well…” Again, Noctis didn’t think Prompto needed to know the sordid details. He did make sure to say that Ignis was the perfect gentleman the whole time, making sure that Noctis was okay and always giving opportunities to stop. Noctis had never wanted to stop. He had wanted to experience everything and feel Ignis in him, around him.

“And after?”

“After…he cleaned us up and we went to sleep.”

“What about this morning? What did he say?” Prompto asked.

Noctis dropped his head again. “Nothing. He said nothing because I had to leave and I didn’t want to wake him.”

“YOU HAD SEX WITH HIM AND JUST LEFT?! NOCT!” Prompto’s tone was full of disappointment and disgust; tones that did not fit his friend’s usual sunny disposition but tones that were fully warranted.

“I know. I know,” Noctis mumbled. “I got a text from Dad. I had to go. I left him a note, apologized for running off, but I don’t think it mattered. He sent a text some time later and it was very formal and he apologized for last night. I told him it was fine, but I don’t think he believes me.” Noctis sighed. “Prompto, I’ve screwed up.”

“Yeah, you should have woken him,” Prompto scolded. “Talk to him, dude. Apologize in person and then you two can do that thing where you pretend like nothing happened.” There was a moment of silence where Noctis was sure Prompto was looking at him, but he didn’t return the favor. He just stared at the table and absently drew swirls with his finger. How can he admit he doesn’t want to pretend like it didn’t happen?

Unfortunately, Prompto correctly interpreted his silence. “I always thought you were straight.”

“I am. At least, I’ve always thought so. I’ve only ever looked at girls and been with girls. But…”

He trailed off as Prompto’s eyes widened.

“But?”

“But I guess I’ve always thought Iggy was attractive. I mean, I’d never thought about him that before…”

But that wasn’t true. Not really. Perhaps he’d never really put a name or face to his masturbatory fantasies, but his mind had always supplied a distinctly male, Tenenbraen accent egging him on, praising him. Not unlike the words Ignis had said last night.

“What do I do, Prompto?” Noctis asked, desperate for some advice.

“Talk to him.”

“I can’t. At least not yet.”

“Then I don’t know what to say. I’m completely out of my depth here.”

“Yeah,” Noctis sighed, “me too.”

~*~*~*~*~

Forced normalcy became a thing and Noctis hated it. Ignis clearly didn’t want to talk about what had occurred between them and Noctis had no idea how to even start the conversation. He knew he had screwed up completely and felt like he deserved all of this. Ignis coming and going without much personal interaction. Ignis being more formal with him than usual in the Citadel. Gladio had asked what had happened but Noctis wasn’t going to give that answer. He knew he’d get shit from Gladio and he couldn’t deal with it on top of his own crippling anxiety.

Eventually, Noctis did the only thing he could think to do. He went to the internet to seek out answers or advice. After some searching, he finally found a forum that was geared towards younger Insomnians and their relationship questions. Looked at the topics on the first page of the forum and saw questions such as “I made out with my roommate” and “I slept with my boss.” He even clicked on a few different questions to see what the responses were before deciding to create an account and hope that nameless strangers could give him the clarity he needed.

It took him a long time to figure out exactly how to word his predicament so that it made sense and didn’t give away who he was. Somehow, he could see Gladio looking through this site for kicks. Or worse, Iris.

**Slept with gay best friend**

_I need help. I slept with my best friend and I don’t know what to do. We’ve known each other forever and while I would admit even to him that he’s attractive, I’m straight. Or, thought I was, I guess. Yes, alcohol was involved, but we weren’t drunk. I started it and we kept going together. Lots of “is this okay?” and “are you sure?” questions occurred. It was wonderful. Best sex I’d ever had. Problem is, I had to leave before he woke up. I should have woke him instead of leaving a note, I know, but he looked so peaceful and I sometimes think he doesn’t get enough sleep. Now he thinks he messed up even though I told him he didn’t. But I don’t know how to convince him. We still see each other very often, same social circles, but it’s awkward. I miss him._

_Any advice would be appreciated. How does one start that conversation when a fair amount of time has passed and you have troubles actually speaking your feelings?_

Noctis read it again and again, making sure that he didn’t leave any identifying markers as to who he might be. Eventually, he couldn’t stall any longer, and he hit the post button. All he could do now was wait to see if anyone would reply to ReelFomalhaut with good advice.

~*~*~*~*~

A day passed before Noctis had the nerve to check the forums again. He was afraid of the answers he’d get but realized he’d gone there looking for answers; he should actually look at them.

Unfortunately, most of the answers were ‘talk to him’ which Noctis thought missed the point entirely. He’d asked how to start the conversation because he already knew he had to talk to him. No one had even advice there, even after he thanked them for their input and once again asked how to start that conversation.

Another day had gone by when he saw that he had a private message from someone. He clicked on the notification and saw it was from a user AnkaaCapulus. He recognized the name as the one who had asked for advice after sleeping with their boss. Noctis had looked through that thread to see if any advice was hidden, but there had been none.

The message read:

_As everyone else has said, all you can do is talk to him. If he is truly your best friend and you have a long friendship, he will listen. He might be as confused as you are and just scared to bring it up. I imagine he is feeling similar emotions as you._

_To start the conversation, I am afraid I don’t have any good advice. A letter, perhaps? Hand written and delivered in person but with the understanding that he doesn’t have to read it immediately. I might even go as far as to ask him to call once he’s read it and is ready to talk about it. That way, you are not breathing down his neck._

_Best of luck._

He couldn’t help but smile at the message. Finally, someone had offered him concrete advice. A letter sounded good. He could write it and give it to Ignis as he was going out the door one evening. Or, more likely, he’d slip it into Ignis’s things to find later.

~*~*~*~*~

The letter was unsurprisingly hard to write. Noctis started many times and crumbled the paper up many times. It shouldn’t be that hard to write exactly what he was feeling—he’d done okay when it was posted anonymously online to strangers—but nothing felt right. Nothing felt sincere and real.

Twice he messaged AnkaaCapulus for a pointer, but they didn’t really know how to help. Eventually, they thought to suggest to record himself saying what he wanted to say and then writing down what was said, edit for grammatical continuity, and hand it over.

_It won’t be cohesive_ , ReelFomalhaut replied. _Just word vomit._

_Maybe that’s all it needs to be,_ came the not super-useful response.

With nothing to lose, Noctis did as suggested and hated that it worked. He didn’t even need to relisten to what he’d said, it was just the act of actually verbalizing what he felt. The letter was still word vomit and all he could hope was that AnkaaCapulus was right and that was all was needed.

Meanwhile, Noctis did ask about Ankaa’s boss issue and was surprised that it hadn’t been resolved. All of the good advice that they had given Noctis made it seem like they would easily be able to mend the issues there.

_Sometimes it’s easier to give advice than to follow it. It’s awkward between us because there’s no distance. I seem him almost every day and I think that is keeping the, I don’t want to say ‘wound’ as it’s not one, but for argument’s sake, the wound stays open. I believe he wants to discuss it as much as I do, but neither of us know where to start._

Noctis had jokingly suggested writing a letter but seriously suggested taking a small vacation. Put some distance between them and maybe that would help. Ankaa had worries about that but promised he would consider it.

~*~*~*~*~

A little over a month since the incident happened, Noctis finally took steps to get the conversation rolling. 

Just before Ignis came over, Noctis checked the forums to see Ankaa had said they were thinking about taking his advice and going on a little vacation. Noctis encouraged it, suggested Galdin Quay for the fish and then said he was going to give the letter this evening and he’d let them know how it goes.

It was while Ignis was in the kitchen that Noctis slipped the letter into the briefcase as he was grabbing the notes from a meeting that Ignis had gone to.

Looking over to Ignis, Noctis couldn’t help but sigh and pray that this worked. He missed Ignis so much he ached and he couldn’t figure out why that wasn’t enough to just start the conversation. Ignis was right there, quietly cooking, listening to something on his phone with his earbuds in, and completely ignoring Noctis. But Noctis was too chickenshit to even apologize. So, instead, Noctis took the acquired notes, and started looking through them.

Once Ignis was done with dinner, he asked Noctis if he needed anything else or had any questions about the meeting. He answered no and for a brief second, Ignis looked like he was going to say something but then thought better of it. He said goodbye and left

Now all he could do was wait. He didn’t want to. He wanted to know immediately. He wanted to shoot Ignis a text and asked if he saw the letter. But he knew he couldn’t. He knew that the ball was in Ignis’s court now and there was nothing he could do.

After the initial nerves of knowing Ignis walked out the door with letter in hand, Noctis managed to get some work done. He tried hard not to glance at his phone every five seconds and after a few hours, he realized that Ignis probably was going to take his time thinking about everything.

Finally, after 23:00, Noctis got ready for bed. He didn’t think he’d be able to sleep, but his other choice was to stare at his phone, hoping for something. Anything. No, bed was the better choice here.

He heard the door to his apartment open and close as he was rinsing his mouth out after brushing. Confused, he left his bathroom and almost immediately ran into Ignis who had just entered his bedroom.

No words were exchanged as Ignis grabbed Noctis’s face and kissed him. It took a couple of seconds for Noctis’s brain to kick in, but he soon was kissing back just as fiercely. Clothes started coming off as apologies were sounded and then shushed. Before long, they were laying in post-coital bliss with Noctis lying almost on top of Ignis while Ignis lightly ran his fingers along his back and occasionally dipping his head down to kiss Noctis’s crown.

“I almost said I was going to take a few days off,” Ignis said, breaking the silence. “A chance to get away and put some distance between us so that I could think.”

Noctis hummed to acknowledge he’d heard but didn’t say anything.

“In fact, it was suggested to me Galdin Quay would be a good place to go because it’s apparently the right season for their tastiest fish.”

Noctis hummed again and then realized what Ignis had just said. He pushed himself up so he could look at Ignis’s face. “You are not serious.”

Ignis laughed.

“You’re serious! Oh my gods!” Noctis also started laughing. “It figures that the one person who could give me advice would be you. You called me your boss!”

“You called me your best friend,” Ignis countered. “I would never presume I’d be a best friend over Prompto.”

“Iggy, you’re my best friend. Prompto is too in another sense, but you have been there forever. But, really, your boss?!”

“Technically, it’s true. But it was also written in such a way that I felt no one would be able to identify me. I think it worked.”

“It did. I can’t believe we both went to the same site seeking advice and ending up finding each other. What in the world was your name on that?” Noctis asked.

“Ankaa is the brightest star in the Phoenix…”

“Your favorite constellation.”

“And Capulus is another word for coffee. Yours, I noticed, was fishing gear.”

“Yeah, well,” Noctis shrugged as he laid back down. He did stretch up just enough to give Ignis a kiss before getting comfortable again. “I’m sorry it took so long for us to get here.”

“All that matters is that we are here now.”

Noctis smiled. “Yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

> The initial premise came from a letter from Dear Prudence, with a guy seeking advice for the same issue. The forum response and it ultimately being Noct and Iggy talking to each other came from conversations on the IgNoct Hotel discord server.


End file.
